Sales method, sales system, sales processing apparatus, and terminal apparatus

ABSTRACT

An intangible product sales server for selling intangible products and a tangible product sales server for selling tangible products associated with the intangible products cooperate to simplify purchase procedures to be followed by users in purchasing tangible and intangible products in combination.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a sales method, a salessystem, sales processing apparatus, and a terminal apparatus for aplurality of servers to cooperatively sell articles demanded by users.

These days, so-called Internet shopping is becoming increasingly common.In operation, a user as a purchaser, accesses a shopping site on theInternet through his personal computer connected thereto. The userexecutes a predetermined operation to select a desired article on a pageof the accessing site as displayed on a Web browser screen. Then, theuser executes a predetermined operation for determining an article tobuy and enters predetermined such items for payment procedure aspersonal information including user's name and address and paymentpreference.

Also, in addition to the sale of tangibles, the sale of intangibles suchas automobile insurance is becoming popular in Internet shopping. Giventhis background, chances would increase in which users buy bothintangibles and tangibles at the same time.

Currently, however, users must access separate Internet sites to buyintangibles and tangibles. For example, if a user wants to buy anintangible and an associated tangible, the user must access a site whichsells intangibles and conclude the payment agreements for the purchaseand then access a site which sells tangibles by following links forexample and conclude the payment agreements for the purchase, enteringall required information through his personal computer every time theaccess is made. This gives the users a lot of time and trouble inpurchasing combinations of intangibles and tangibles. In addition, thepayment agreements for example must be separately managed forintangibles and tangibles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a salessystem by which users, or customers, of Internet shopping are able tobuy combinations of intangibles and tangibles by a single accessoperation and an operational procedure as simple as possible, therebysaving the users a lot of time and labor. Such a sales system alsoallows the selling side to provide the sale of combinations ofintangibles and tangibles which no previous system has done before,thereby significantly enhancing the sales efficiency.

In carrying out the invention and according to a first aspect, there isprovided a sales method for selling both intangible and tangibleproducts in which at least an intangible product sales server forselling an intangible product and a tangible product sales server forselling a tangible product are interconnected by a network forcooperatively selling the intangible product and the tangible productupon request from a user terminal operated by its user, including thesteps of: searching the intangible product sales server for anintangible product desired by the user on the basis of an operationperformed through the user terminal and displaying a search result onthe user terminal; displaying on the user terminal information about atangible product associated with the retrieved intangible product, thetangible product being for sale by the tangible product sales server;and if the intangible product and the tangible product displayed on theuser terminal have been found sold at a same time, discounting a salesprice of one of the intangible product and the tangible product.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provideda sales system for selling an intangible product and a tangible productassociated therewith in cooperation between a plurality of serversinterconnected via a network, including: a user terminal apparatus,connected to the network, for purchasing the intangible product and thetangible product by executing data communication with each of theplurality of servers on the basis of operation performed by a user; anintangible sales server for handling the purchase of the intangibleproduct from the user terminal, sending to the user terminal informationfor recommending the purchase of the tangible product sold by anotherone of the plurality of severs, and, if the user has performed apurchasing process for purchasing the recommended tangible product inresponse to the recommendation by the intangible product sales server,and executing a discount process for discounting the sales price of theintangible product; and a tangible product sales server, if the user hasperformed the purchasing process in response to the recommendation bythe intangible product sales server, for sending purchase decisioninformation to the intangible product sales server.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provideda cooperative sales system in which a plurality of serversinterconnected via a network cooperatively sell a tangible product andan intangible product associated with each other, having: a userterminal apparatus, connected to the network, for the transfer/receptionof data about the sale with the plurality of servers and displaying andinputting the data on the basis of an operation performed by a user ofthe user terminal apparatus; an intangible product sales server,connected to the network, for transferring/receiving data about the saleof the intangible product with the user terminal apparatus and signing asales contract with the user about the intangible product; and atangible product sales server, connected to the network, fortransferring data about the sale of the tangible product associated withthe intangible product with the user terminal apparatus and signing asales contract with the user about the tangible product; wherein: theuser terminal apparatus including: communication means fortransferring/receiving data with the plurality of servers; display meansfor displaying data received by the communication means; operator meansfor the user to input data to be transmitted to any one of the pluralityof servers; and control means for controlling the communication meanssuch that the communication means transfers/receives the data with anyone of the plurality of servers connected to the network on the basis ofthe operation performed by the user through the operator means andcontrolling the display means such that the data received from any oneof the plurality of servers is displayed on the display means; theintangible product sales server including: communication means fortransferring/receiving data with another device connected to thenetwork; intangible product data storage means for storing data aboutthe intangible product; user information storage means for storing dataabout the user supplied from the user terminal apparatus; and controlmeans for searching the intangible product data storage means for theintangible product requested by the user on the basis of intangibleproduct purchase request conditions received from the user terminalapparatus through the communication means, acquiring from the anotherdevice information about the tangible product associated with theretrieved intangible product, and transmitting the information about thetangible product to the user terminal apparatus; and the tangibleproduct sales server including: communication means fortransferring/receiving data with another device connected to thenetwork; tangible product data storage means for storing product dataabout the tangible product; user information storage means for storingdata about the user; and control means for controlling the userinformation storage means such that information about the user receivedfrom the intangible product server is stored into the user informationstorage means, controlling the communication means such that thecommunication means searches tangible product data storage means for thetangible product associated with the data about the intangible productrequested by the user received from the intangible product sales server,and transmits data about the retrieved tangible product associated withthe intangible product to the intangible product sales server throughthe network.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provideda product cooperative purchase apparatus connected to a network forpurchasing both an intangible product and a tangible product from anintangible product sales server and a tangible product sales serverrespectively connected to the network, including: communication meansfor communicating one of the servers via the network; display means fordisplaying data supplied from the intangible product sales server;operator means for a user of the product cooperative purchase apparatusto input a request for the desired intangible product, the inputtedrequest being transmitted to the intangible product sales server; andcontrol means for controlling the communication means such that thecommunication means is connected to the intangible product sales servervia the network, controlling the display means such that informationabout the intangible product is displayed on the basis of data forpurchasing the intangible product received from the intangible productsales server on the display means, and controlling thecommunication-means such that the communication means transmitsinformation for purchasing the intangible product inputted from theoperator means to the intangible product sales server.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is providedan intangible product sales apparatus, connected to a network connectedwith a user terminal apparatus and a tangible product sales server forselling a tangible product, for selling an intangible product associatedwith the tangible product, including; communication means forcommunicating with another device connected to the network; product datastorage means for storing data about the intangible product; userinformation storage means for storing information about a user of theuser terminal apparatus transmitted via the network; and control meansfor controlling the user information storage means such that, the userinformation on the basis of a request for purchasing the intangibleproduct and the user information received by the communication meansfrom the user terminal apparatus via the network, is stored into theuser information storage means, controlling the communication means suchthat the intangible product desired by the user is searched for on thebasis of the purchase request, from the product data storage means,information about the retrieved intangible product and data about thetangible product for sale by the tangible product sales serverassociated with the intangible product is transmitted to the userterminal apparatus via the network.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provideda tangible product sales apparatus, connected to a network connectedwith a user terminal apparatus and an intangible product sales serverfor selling an intangible product, for selling a tangible productassociated with the intangible product, including: communication meansfor communicating data with another device connected to the network;product data storage means for storing data about the tangible product;user information storage means for storing information about a userreceived from the another device connected to the network; and controlmeans for controlling the user information storage means such that, onthe basis of intangible product information about the intangible productdesired by the user and the user information received from theintangible product sales product server, the user information is storedinto the user information storage means, controlling the communicationmeans such that the product data storage means is searched for tangibleproduct information associated with the intangible product, theretrieved product data is transmitted to the another device connected tothe network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other objects of the invention will be seen by reference tothe description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an overall configuration of asales system practiced as one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary internalconfiguration of a user terminal of the sales system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block digram illustrating a basic configuration common toeach of servers constituting the sales system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary top page screen provided by the server, shownon a display monitor of the user terminal of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary personal information input screen throughwhich a user enters his personal information necessary for an automobileinsurance purchase order;

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary insurance purchase ordering screen;

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary insurance and car navigator purchase orderingscreen;

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary estimate sheet screen to be displayed forinsurance and car navigator purchase order;

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary payment information screen to be displayed forinsurance and car navigator purchase order;

FIG. 10 shows an exemplary communication terminal contract screen;

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary service shop map screen;

FIG. 12 shows an exemplary car navigator installation scheduleappointment screen;

FIG. 13 shows an exemplary car navigator installation appointmentconfirming screen;

FIG. 14 is a diagram describing the information transfer between theuser terminal and the servers of the sales system of FIG. 1 which takesplace when the user purchases a combination of automobile insurance andcar navigator;

FIG. 15 is a diagram describing the information transfer between theuser terminal and the servers of the sales system of FIG. 1 which takesplace when user concludes the agreements with a telecommunicationcarrier about a wireless terminal of the purchased car navigator; and

FIG. 16 is a diagram describing the information transfer between theuser terminal and the servers of the sales system of FIG. 1 which takesplace when the user searches for a service shop at which the user wantsto make an appointment of the date on which to have the purchased carnavigator installed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

This invention will be described in further detail by way of examplewith reference to the accompanying drawings. As one embodiment of thepresent invention, a sales system is used for example in whichintangibles are automobile insurance products and tangibles areautomobile-associated products, for example, car navigator. Thedescription will be made in the following order:

-   -   1. Sales system    -   1-1 Overall configuration    -   1-2 User terminal apparatus    -   1-3 Servers    -   2. Operational procedure    -   3. Exemplary Information transfer forms

1. Sales System

1-1 Overall Configuration

Now referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a exemplary overallconfiguration of the sales system practiced as one embodiment of theinvention. In the figure, a user terminal 1 is a personal computer whichcan be connected to the Internet. The user terminal 1 is used by a userof this terminal, or customer of the products offered by this salessystem. The sales system has at least an automobile insurance company(or insurance company) server 2, a sales company server 3, a makerserver 4, a car service shop server 5, a telecommunication carrierserver 6, and a finance company server 7.

The insurance company server 2, managed by a particular automobileinsurance company, is adapted to provide at least an estimate ofautomobile insurance and conclude the purchase agreements thereof whenthe user accesses this server for a purchase order. Namely, the companyserver 2 is constituted as capable of selling an intangible product suchas automobile insurance in an Internet shopping environment.

The sales company server 3 is constituted to sell tangible products; inthe present embodiment, car navigators, which are recommended forpurchase in combination with automobile insurance as will be described.

If only the realization of the sale of a combination of an intangiblesuch as an automobile insurance product and a tangible such as a carnavigation system is intended, the insurance company server 2, the salescompany server 3, and the finance company server 7 to be described latermay only be arranged. However, the present embodiment additionally hasthe maker server 4, the service shop server 5, and the telecommunicationcarrier server 6 in order to provide additional services to thecustomers of a combination of an automobile insurance product and a carnavigation system.

The maker server 4, managed by a maker of tangibles handled by the salescompany server 3, accepts the orders of tangibles from the sales companyserver 3. In addition, the maker server 4 is also constituted to notify,upon request, the sales company server 3 for example of the stock anddeliver times of ordered products.

The service shop server 5 provides the information about many carmaintenance and service shops which are under contract with the salessystem of this embodiment. For example, accessing this server allows theuser to search for a service shop at which a car navigation system isinstalled on the user's car or the appointment of the installation ismade.

The telecommunication carrier server 6 is managed by a wirelesstelecommunication company providing mobile telephony for example. Someof the car navigation systems for sale in the sales system of thepresent embodiment can be connected to the Internet by use of mobiletelephone technologies for example. A user who has determined to buysuch a car navigation system accesses the telecommunication carrierserver 6 to register the wireless communication unit to be installed onthis car navigation system.

The finance company server 7, managed by various finance companies orinstitutions, allows the user to settle the payment for purchasedproducts.

1-2 User Terminal Apparatus

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a block diagram of an exemplaryinternal configuration of the user terminal apparatus 1. As described,the user terminal 1 in the present embodiment is a personal computerconnectable with the Internet.

In the figure, a CPU 101 executes various processing operations asinstructed by programs stored in a ROM 102 for example. A RAM 103arbitrarily holds data and programs necessary for the CPU 101 to executevarious processing operations.

An input/output interface 104 comprises a keyboard 105 and a mouse 106and outputs the operational signals inputted from these devices into theCPU 101. The input/output interface 104 is also connected to a hard diskdrive (HDD) 108 having a hard disk, which serves as a storage medium.The CPU 101 reads and writes data and programs on the hard disk of theHDD 108 through the input/output interface 104. In the presentembodiment, the input/output interface 104 is also connected to adisplay monitor 107.

A media driver 109 is compatible with a particular type of storagemedium and reads and writes data thereon.

A communication interface 110 executes communication with theabove-mentioned servers via the Internet. For example, this interface isa modem if the connection with the Internet is based on a publicswitched phone line or the Ethernet if the connection is based on anetwork.

A data interface 111 provides communication interface with peripheralunits. For example, the data interface is SCSI, USB, or IEEE 1394. Thedriver of the recording medium may also be a peripheral device which isconnected to the user terminal apparatus by the data interface 111.

An internal bus 112, based on a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect)or local bus, interconnects the functional components inside the userterminal apparatus.

1-3 Servers

The insurance company server 2, the sales company server 3, the makerserver 4, the service shop server 5, the telecommunication carrierserver 6, the finance company server 7 have each substantially a samehardware configuration, which is as shown in FIG. 3. The serverconfiguration shown in FIG. 3 is based on a storage section 200, acommunication interface section 203, and a control section 204.

The storage section 200 stores various information necessary forimplementing the functionality of the server. In this example, thestorage section 200 stores a database 201 and an execution program 202.The database 201 stores information predetermined for each server. Theexecution program 202 is executed by the control section 204 of eachserver.

2. Operational Procedure

Referring to FIGS. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, a procedure ofthe operations to be executed by the user, or a customer of productsoffered by this sales system, on the user terminal apparatus 1 will bedescribed. These figures are Web browser screens to be shown on thedisplay monitor 107 of the user terminal apparatus 1.

For example, it is assumed here that the user be planning to purchase anautomobile insurance product, an intangible. First, the user starts anorder program known as a Web browser for browsing Internet sites byperforming a predetermined operation, thereby accessing an automobileinsurance purchase site in the insurance company server 2 in the salessystem of the present embodiment.

Consequently, the top page of the automobile insurance purchase sitescreen is shown on the display monitor 107 as shown in FIG. 4. Thisscreen presents that the user can purchase a combination of automobileinsurance and car navigator. If the user wants to buy both an automobileinsurance and a car navigator, he clicks a display area “Order carnavigator+insurance” or an arrow shown to the left of this area. If theuser wants to buy only automobile insurance, he clicks a display area“Order automobile insurance” or an arrow shown to the left of this area.

For example, the sales system may be adapted so that, if the user buys acombination of automobile insurance and car navigator, the user can getpayment merits such as a discount of at least one of products or adiscount of split commission as compared with the purchase of only oneof the products. Also, the sales system may also be adapted so that theserver managing companies can get merits in profit by mutually payingmargins of a predetermined ratio at the conclusion of contract.

It is assumed here that the user has clicked display area “Order carnavigator+insurance” or “Order automobile insurance,” then screens forentering the items necessary for purchasing automobile insurance will bedisplayed. First, a personal information input screen as shown in FIG. 5is displayed.

The personal information input screen has boxes for user name, initial,electronic mail address, birthday, age, gender, home address, telephonenumber, mobile telephone number, occupation, and office address forexample. The user sequentially fills these boxes by operating the mouseand keyboard.

Preferably, the personal information input operation should besimplified as far as possible; for example, the age be automaticallydetermined when the birthday is entered and the initial be automaticallycreated when the name is entered.

When the personal information of the user has been all entered, the userclick “Next” button in the lower right of the screen. Then an insuranceordering screen shown in FIG. 6 appears.

In the insurance ordering screen, the user enters the items necessaryfor defining insurance contract. In this example, the user enters suchuser's car associated information as model name, car number,registration number, model year, and compulsory inspection expirationdate. From these items of information, the automobile owned by the usercan be identified.

In addition, such insurance-associated information as insurance companyof current compulsory automobile liability insurance and certificatenumber and current voluntary insurance. The information about voluntaryinsurance includes insurance company name, product name, class,expiration date, certificate number, premium payment form, compensationsfor bodily injury, property damage, car damage, and passenger bodilyinjury, and coverage age limit.

It should be noted that the screen shown in FIG. 6 is nothing butgeneral; for example, various other input boxes may be added includingpresence or absence of automobile safety mechanism and other discountspecial contract items which affect actual insurance premium setting.

When the user has filled all of the input boxes of the screen shown inFIG. 6 and clicks “Next” button, a car navigator ordering screen shownin FIG. 7 appears if the user selected the purchase of the combinationof automobile insurance and car navigator in the top page screen shownin FIG. 4.

The car navigator ordering screen shown in FIG. 7 shows an automobileinsurance policy recommended for the user in response to the inputs madein the insurance ordering screen of FIG. 6. In addition, the screen ofFIG. 7 shows car navigator purchase box A1 in which the user inputs theinformation associated with a car navigator to be purchased.

Car navigator purchase box A1 has box A11 indicative of the model numberof the car navigator, for example, “NDVD-55SD-1.” Car navigator purchasebox A1 also has box A12 which asks the user whether to have a serviceshop install the purchased car navigator. In this example, the userselects the installation by a service shop. To the right of box A12,payment preference box A13 is arranged. In this example, the userselects payment by installments. To the right of box A13, the price ofthe car navigator is shown.

For the payment by installments, the user can select the number ofinstallments in contract years box. In this example, the payment is madein 3 years. Accordingly, the expiration period of the automobileinsurance is automatically set to 3 years.

It should be noted here that the product number, namely, the model ofthe car navigator shown in box A11 of car navigator selection box A1 isdetermined as follows.

The information associated with the user's car inputted in the insuranceordering screen of FIG. 6 is sent to not only the insurance companyserver 2 but also the sales company server 3 for example. On the basisof the supplied car-associated information such as model name and modelyear, the sales company server 3 searches its database for a carnavigator which can be installed on the user's car and displays theproduct number of the retrieved car navigator in car navigator selectionarea A1.

Namely, in the present embodiment, on the basis of the information aboutthe automobile insurance, an intangible product, inputted previously,the car navigating system, a tangible product, which is compatible withthe user's car is automatically selected and proposed to the user.

Actually, it is possible that two or more car navigator candidates areretrieved. To display two more candidates, box A11 may be constructed asa pull-down menu for example. Alternatively, an independent operationalscreen page, not shown, may be arranged to display the retrieved carnavigators for the user to select one. Such a screen page may be locatedin the sales company server 3 for example.

In this example, the user can also purchase optional security systemsother than car navigators. Accordingly, the car navigator orderingscreen has security system purchase box A2. In the security systempurchase box, check box A14 is arranged. Checking this box indicatesthat the user has selected the purchase of a security system. To theleft of this check box, box A15 is arranged for specifying whether tohave the purchased security system installed for the user. Also, paymentpreference box A16 is also arranged. To the left of box A16, the priceof a proposed security system is shown.

By entering the necessary items in the car navigator ordering screen,the user can get an estimate of the combination purchase of automobileinsurance and car navigating system.

When the input operation in the car navigation ordering screen has beencompleted, the user performs an operation for sending the enteredinformation. To be specific, the user terminal 1 accesses the financecompany server 7 to send the information thereto.

On the basis of the received product estimate information, the financecompany server 7 executes processing for preparing an actual estimatesheet. Namely, if it is decided that the payment will be made byinstallments, the amount of each payment is computed from the totalamount of purchased products, the interest determined by the number ofinstallments, and so on. When this computation has been completed, thefinance company server 7 sends the browser screen data indicative of theobtained estimate to the user terminal 1.

On the basis of the received browser screen data, the user terminal 1displays an estimate screen as shown in FIG. 8 for example. The userchecks the displayed estimate. If the settings made by the user have noerror and the user agrees the estimate, then the user clicks “Order!”arrow button A21.

Consequently, the user terminal 1 accesses the finance company server 7to notify the same of the intention of the purchase in accordance withthe presented estimate. In response, the finance company server 7 sendsthe data of a payment information input screen data as shown in FIG. 9to the user terminal 1.

The payment information input screen shown in FIG. 9 has input boxes“Payment preference,” “Credit card company,” “Credit card number,”“Credit card expiration date,” “Credit card owner name.” The users fillsthese boxes in accordance with a selected payment preference. The“Payment preference” box is a pull-down menu for example by which theuser can selects one of the payment preferences compatible with thepresent sales system, such as credit card, debit card, bank or postaloffice debit authorization, and transfer into account.

In this example, the user has selected the payment by credit card. Whenthe user has performed a predetermined operation for the payment, theinformation thereof is sent to the finance company server 7. Thistransmission of the payment preference information also indicates thefinal purchase decision by the user. On the basis of the receivedpayment information, the finance company server 7 executes paymentprocessing in accordance with the contents shown in FIG. 9.

Although not shown, a page screen indicative of the conclusion of thepurchase agreements is read by the user terminal 1 and displayedthereon.

Also, upon completion of the payment agreements, the details thereof maybe e-mailed to the a mail server for the user.

As described, the operations for determining the purchase of acombination of an automobile insurance product, an intangible, and a carnavigating system, a tangible, and for concluding the payment agreementsare performed a basic operational flow shown in FIGS. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and9. On the basis of the above-mentioned combination sales of intangiblesand tangibles, the present embodiment can provide various otherservices.

For example, if the car navigating system purchased by the user has acommunication terminal for connecting the car navigator to the Internetvia a wireless telephone network, the user must contract an agreementabout this communication terminal. This contract may be concluded by theuser himself after the delivery of the car navigator to the user. In thepresent embodiment, if the car navigator has the communication terminalat the decision of purchasing the car navigator, the user may alsoconclude an agreement about the communication terminal through a browserscreen.

FIG. 10 shows this browser screen by way of example. If the purchase ofthe car navigator having the communication terminal was determined inthe operation flow shown in FIGS. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, the userterminal 1 accesses the telecommunication carrier 6 to display acommunication terminal contract screen as shown in FIG. 10.

Filling the boxes in the communication terminal contract screen allowsthe user to make the registration for communication terminal useservices or change or add the contents of the contract. In actuallycontracting the wireless terminal device, the personal information ofthe user, such as home address, name, birth day, and so on is required.However, the communication terminal contract screen shown in FIG. 10 hasno boxes for entering these items. In the present embodiment, thesepersonal information items need not be entered because the personalinformation entered in the personal information input screen shown inFIG. 5 is shared between the servers.

When the user performs an operation for the order of the contract, theinformation about the contract is sent to the telecommunication carrierserver 6. At this moment, of the personal information and theinformation about the car navigator and the user's car entered in theWeb browser screens, predetermined data necessary for concluding thecommunication terminal contract are also sent to the telecommunicationcarrier server 6. These data may be sent from the user terminal 1 or thedata acquired and stored by the sales company server 3 for exampleaccessed so far may be transferred to the telecommunication carrierserver 6. On the basis of the received information, thetelecommunication carrier server 6 may build a database for example tomanage the customers who concluded the contract. Namely, the user'spersonal information is related to the car navigator as a communicationterminal device to be used by that user to perform the chargingprocessing and so on in accordance with a subsequent line usage time anda size of data to be transferred for example.

If the user selected, at the decision of purchasing the car navigator,to have the purchased car navigator installed by a service shop, theuser terminal 1 may be made access to the service shop server 5.

The service shop server 5 asks any one of the user terminal 1, theinsurance company server 2, and the sales company server 3 for sendingthe predetermined various information including the personal informationinputted by the user for automobile insurance purchase and receivesthese items of information.

The service shop server 5 has a database storing the data which relateeach automobile service shop and each automobile dealer for exampleunder contract with the present sales system with their locations andcar models and navigator models in deal for example.

Then, on the basis of the user's home address, car model, and the modelof the purchased car navigator for example, the service shop server 5searches its database for a service shop which is most convenient forthe user to have the purchased car navigator installed on his car.

A result of this search is displayed on the user terminal 1 as shown inFIG. 11 as a service shop guide map screen for example. In this example,the service shops nearest to the user's home are shown in both text andmap image. This allows the user to easily understand the positionalrelationship between the user's home and the service shops.

In order to display the map information as shown in FIG. 11, the serviceshop server 5 must store the map information in its database. Inaddition to the displaying of the positional relationships, the serviceshop server 5 may have capabilities of displaying the distances androutes to the service shops for example. Further, the service shopserver 5 may display the times required to reach the service shops onthe basis of the accumulated road congestion data for example.

In the present embodiment, service shop candidates are presented asshown in FIG. 11 and another page as shown in FIG. 12 may be accessed.Shown in FIG. 12 is a car navigator installation schedule appointmentscreen, indicating an appointment status of a service shop selected fromamong the candidates by the user. In order to implement these displayscreens, the service shop server 5 collects appointment statusinformation from each service shop under contract and stores thecollected data in the database.

Checking the presented appointment schedule of the selected serviceshop, the user can specify an available day to make an appointment ofthe installation of the purchased car navigator on his car.

If there exists no available day, the user can return to the serviceshop guidance screen shown in FIG. 11 and selects the other serviceshop.

In addition, a cancel standby status may be displayed when the user nextaccesses the appointment status screen or the standby status may bee-mailed to the user.

When the user can make an appointment of the installation date, anappointment confirming screen as shown in FIG. 13 is displayed. In thisexample, the user can get a map indicative of a route from user's hometo the service shop by performing a predetermined operation. Forexample, when the user clicks the map request button shown in FIG. 13,the service shop server 5 sends map information to the user terminalapparatus 1 by electronic mail.

3. Exemplary Information Transfer Forms

In order to implement the above-mentioned operations of the sales systemaccording to the invention as described, the predetermined informationis transferred between the user terminal apparatus 1 and each of theservers constituting this sales system and, on the basis of thetransferred information, each server executes predetermined processing.

Therefore, the following describes the contents of the information to betransferred in accordance with each of the above-mentioned operationsand the operations of the user terminal apparatus 1 and each server tobe executed in accordance with the transferred information. It should benoted that, in what follows, the operations of the user terminalapparatus 1 and each server to be executed as data transfer is executedare described; of these operations, the operation to be executed by theuser terminal apparatus 1 is executed by the CPU 101 on the basis of thecontents of file description in the content data written in HTML forexample sent from each server. The operation of each server is executedby its control section 203 as instructed by the execution program 202stored in the storage section 200.

Referring to FIG. 14, there is shown the information to be transferredbetween the user terminal apparatus 1 and each server when thecombination purchase of an automobile insurance product and a carnavigator is performed in the sales system according to the invention asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 4 through 9. In the figure, eachcircled number indicates a basic sequence in the informationtransmission procedures. In what follows, the description will be madein accordance with these basic sequences.

Procedure 1:

The user terminal apparatus 1 accesses the insurance company server 2 togo from the top page shown in FIG. 4 to the personal information inputscreen shown in FIG. 5. Further, the user terminal apparatus 1 can shiftfrom the personal information input screen to the insurance orderingscreen shown in FIG. 6. Namely, the user terminal apparatus 1 can readthe content data of the personal information input screen shown in FIG.5 and the insurance ordering screen shown in FIG. 6 from the insurancecompany server 2 and displays these data on the display monitor 107 asbrowser screens.

Procedure 2:

The user performs the operations of information entry into the personalinformation input screen shown in FIG. 5 and the insurance orderingscreen shown in FIG. 6. The user terminal apparatus 1 sends the inputtedpersonal information and insurance detail information to the insurancecompany server 2 as the “insurance ordering data.”

Procedure 3:

The insurance company server 2 stores the received insurance orderingdata as order information. Then, the insurance company server 2transfers the insurance ordering data to the sales company server 3.

Procedure 4:

The contents of the insurance order information transferred to the salescompany server 3 are the input items shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. Therefore,this information includes the detail information about user's car suchas model name, model year, and vehicle type for example.

The sales company server 3 has a product database 211 storing the dataabout the products for sale as shown in FIG. 14. For car navigatingsystems, the product database 211 includes the information about eachvehicle type on which a particular car navigator can be installed.

By use of the vehicle type information contained in the insurance orderinformation as a search key, the sales company server 3 searches theproduct database 211 for a car navigator which can be installed on theuser's car. If required, the sales company server 3 may search for asecurity system which can be installed on the user's car.

Procedure 5:

When the user has performed a predetermined operation for sending theinsurance ordering data in procedure 2, the user terminal apparatus 1accordingly accesses the linked sales company server 3 to read theinsurance and car navigator ordering screen page shown in FIG. 7 fromthe sales company server 3.

The data of this insurance and car navigator ordering screen pagepresents one or more car navigating systems retrieved in procedure 4along with the details of the ordered insurance product. In order toallow the user to select a desired car navigator, script description andexternal reference files are attached to the HTML file for example ofthe insurance and car navigator ordering screen.

Procedure 6:

The user terminal apparatus 1 allows the user to order a car navigatorand, if necessary, a security system along with an automobile insuranceproduct by performing a predetermined operation through the insuranceand car navigator ordering screen shown in FIG. 7. When the user hasfilled the input information boxes in the screen, the user terminalapparatus 1 sends the inputted information to the sales company server 3as the insurance and car navigator ordering data.

Procedure 7:

Receiving the insurance and car navigator ordering data, the salescompany server 3 recognizes that the user has ordered both automobileinsurance and car navigator. However, at this stage of processing, theconfirmation of the final order has not been made. In this example, thesales company server 3 first communicates with the maker server 4 torequest the same for a stock and delivery notification in order toconfirm the stock and delivery of the tangible product ordered by theuser, namely a car navigator or a security system. In the request, thesales company server 3 sends a command for requesting the stock anddelivery notification along with the product ID of the car navigator.

Procedure 8:

The maker server 4 registers the information about stock status anddelivery status of each product handled as an article for sale in thesales company server 3 and stores the registered information in itsproduct management database 212. In this example, the product managementdatabase 212 stores the information about the current stock status ofthe car navigating systems manufactured by that maker.

Receiving the stock and delivery notification request in procedure 7,the maker server 4 searches the product management database 212 for thecar navigator having the specified product ID to provide the currentstock and delivery status of that product, namely the car navigatorordered by the user. Likewise, the maker server 4 obtains the stock anddelivery status of the security system ordered by the user.

Procedure 9:

The maker server 4 sends back the stock and delivery status notificationof the car navigator or the security system to the sales company server3.

Procedure 10:

Receiving the stock and delivery status notification, the sales companyserver 3 sends the insurance and car navigator ordering data received inprocedure 6 and the stock and delivery data received in procedure 9 tothe finance company server 7. These data provide the informationnecessary for preparing an estimate sheet.

Procedure 11:

Based on the received issuance and car navigator ordering data and stockand delivery status data, the finance company server 7 prepares estimatesheet data. Namely, on the basis of the insurance and car navigatorordering data, the finance company server 7 obtains a total amount ofthe automobile insurance and the car navigator or security system. Then,in accordance with the payment preference selected by the user, thefinance company server 7 executes estimate processing. For example, ifthe payment by credit card is specified by the user, the finance companyserver 7 obtains the amount of payment to be made every month forexample on the basis of the interest, the number of installments, andthe split payment commission prescribed by that credit card company.Thus, the finance company server 7 obtains the predetermined informationnecessary for estimate sheet preparation. Finally, the use of theseitems of information, the finance company server 7 creates the data forthe estimate sheet screen shown in FIG. 8 for the user.

Procedure 12:

When the user terminal apparatus 1 has sent the insurance and carnavigator ordering data in procedure 6, the user terminal apparatus 1 iscontrolled to access the finance company server 7. Then, the userterminal apparatus 1 reads the estimate sheet screen page created inprocedure 11. Consequently, the estimate sheet screen shown in FIG. 8 isdisplayed on the user terminal apparatus 1.

Procedure 13:

In the estimate sheet screen shown in FIG. 8, the user checks thecontents of the estimate and, if the user agrees with it, clicks“Order!” button A21. When this button is clicked, the user terminalapparatus 1 sends an order notification to the finance company server 7.

Procedure 14:

After sending the order notification, the user terminal apparatus 1reads the payment information input screen shown in FIG. 9 provided bythe finance company server 7.

Procedure 15:

Then, the user fills the boxes of the payment information input screenshown in FIG. 9 on the user terminal apparatus 1 and sends the paymentinformation about the user's credit card for example to the financecompany server 7. The transmission of this information is regarded bythe finance company server 7 as the user's final ordering decision.

Procedure 16:

On the basis of the received payment information as the final orderingdecision by the user, the finance company server 7 executes requiredpayment settlement processing. At this point of time, the purchasecontract for the automobile insurance and car navigator or securitysystem ordered by the user has been established.

Procedure 17:

Then, the finance company server 7 sends a payment settlementnotification to the insurance company server 2 and the sales companyserver 3. Namely, the finance company server 7 sends the user ID oruser's personal information for identifying the user and theestablishment of the purchase contract for the automobile insurance andcar navigator or security system ordered by the user.

Procedure 18:

Receiving the payment settlement notification, the insurance companyserver 2 executes required purchase handling processing. Namely, theinsurance company server 2 registers the user with a contractor database210 as an authorized contractor. Subsequently, on the basis of theinformation registered with the contractor database 210, thecorresponding insurance company prepares and sends an insurance policyfor example to the user.

Procedure 19:

Likewise, receiving the payment settlement notification, the salescompany server 3 executes the purchase handling processing for the carnavigator or security system purchased by the user. For example, thesales company server 3 orders the car navigator or security systempurchased by the user to the maker server 4.

Although not shown, after the conclusion of the purchase contract asdescribed above, a page screen data indicative that the procedure forthe purchase contract has been properly ended may be sent to the userterminal apparatus 1 from any one of the insurance company server 2, thesales company server 3, and the finance company server 7. In addition,any one of the insurance company server 2, the sales company server 3,and the finance company server 7 may representatively e-mail the detailsof the purchase contract to the mail server of the user. The mailaddress of the user is inputted as one item of the personal informationas shown in FIG. 5. The server to send the electronic mail uses thismail address.

Now, referring to FIG. 15, there is shown a flow of data which takesplace when, if the car navigator ordered by the user has a wirelesscommunication terminal device, the user signs a contract on wirelesscommunication with a telecommunication carrier, in the processing shownin FIG. 14 for example. This data flow corresponds to the communicationterminal contracting screen shown in FIG. 10. In FIG. 15, the datatransmission procedures are also shown in circled numbers.

Procedure 1:

For example, if the user decides to purchase a car navigator having awireless communication terminal capability, the user terminal apparatus1 accesses the telecommunication carrier server 6 by following a linkbetween the HTML file of the currently displayed screen and the server 6in accordance with the description of the content data of that HTMLfile. Then, the user terminal apparatus 1 reads the communicationterminal contract screen shown in FIG. 10 from the telecommunicationcarrier server 6.

Procedure 2:

The user fills the boxes for inputting required contract information inthe communication terminal contract screen as described with referenceto FIG. 10. The user terminal apparatus 1 sends the inputted contractinginformation to the telecommunication carrier server 6 as thecommunication contract data.

Procedure 3:

On the basis of the received communication contract data, thetelecommunication carrier server 6 executes contract processing. First,the telecommunication carrier server 6 registers the received contractdata with its communication contract database 213. This registrationrequires the personal information such as user's name and address andthe information such as an ID for identifying a car navigator on whichthe wireless terminal device is to be installed. These items ofinformation may be obtained from the personal information inputted inthe personal information input screen when the automobile insurance wasordered. Therefore, it is assumed that these items of information beincluded in the communication contract data.

Procedure 4:

Next, the telecommunication carrier server 6 transfers the receivedcommunication contract data to the sales company server 3.

Procedure 5:

The sales server 3 selects the maker server 4 which manufactures andstocks the car navigator purchased by the user and transfers thecommunication contract data to the maker server 4.

Procedure 6:

On the basis of the communication contract data received from thetelecommunication carrier server 6 via the sales company server 3, themaker server 4 executes the registration of the wireless terminal deviceof the car navigator. Namely, the maker server 4 selects the one of thecar navigators to be sold to the user at this stage of processing. Inother words, the maker server 4 determines the ID of a particularnavigator, such as its serial number, among the navigators of a samemodel. Then, the maker server 4 registers the ID including a telephonenumber with the communication terminal device to be installed on theselected car navigator in accordance with the received communicationcontract data. This registration data is stored in the productmanagement database 212. At the shipment from factory for example, theregistration of the telephone number is written to the communicationterminal device from the product management database 212.

Thus, the wireless terminal device of the car navigator purchased by theuser is registered.

The processing flow for the appointment of car navigator installationshown with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12 is as shown in FIG. 16.

Procedure 1:

If the user decides the purchase of a car navigator through a browserscreen, the user terminal apparatus 1 accesses the service shop server 5in accordance with a content data command for example. Then, the userterminal apparatus 1 requests the service shop server 5 to supplyservice shop map screen data as shown in FIG. 11 for example.

Procedure 2:

Receiving the request from the user terminal apparatus 1, the serviceshop server 5 captures the insurance ordering data of the user from theinsurance company server 2. However, this processing of procedure 2 mayhave been executed before to have the service shop server 5 hold thecaptured insurance ordering data in advance.

Procedure 3:

The service shop server 5 has a shop location database 215 and anappointment schedule database 216. The service shop server 5 firstsearches the shop location database 215 for the service shops nearest tothe user on the basis of the insurance ordering data obtained asdescribed above.

The shop location database 215 holds the information about the locationsof the service shops under contract with the sales system associatedwith the present invention, in the form of a map. This database alsoholds the car models which can be handled by each service shop and themakers and models of the compatible car navigators for example.

By use of the home address and car model for example included in theinsurance ordering data as search keys, the controller of the serviceshop server 5 searches the database for 215 for the service shopsnearest to the user and capable of installing the car navigatorpurchased by the user on the user's car.

Procedure 4:

On the basis of a result of the search performed in procedure 3, theservice shop server 5 creates a service shop map screen as shown in FIG.11, which is read by the user terminal apparatus 1.

Procedure 5:

The service shop map screen is displayed on the user terminal apparatus1. The user selects a desired service shop from among those displayed onthe screen. When the user has selected one, the information specifyingthe selected service shop is sent to the service shop server 5.

Procedure 6:

The appointment schedule database 216 stores the current appointmentstatus of each service shop under contract with the present salessystem. Receiving the service shop specification information, theservice shop server 5 searches the appointment schedule database 216 forthe appointment schedule data of the specified service shop. By use ofthe retrieved appointment schedule data, the service shop server 5creates an installation schedule appointment screen as shown in FIG. 12.

Procedure 7:

The user terminal apparatus 1 reads and displays the content data of theinstallation schedule appointment screen.

Procedure 8:

Checking the displayed installation schedule appointment screen, theuser can make an appointment of a day on which to install the purchasedcar navigator on the car. The selected appointment date is sent to theservice shop server 5 as the appointment data.

Procedure 9:

On the basis of the received appointment data, the service shop server 5creates the data about an installation appointment confirming screen asshown in FIG. 13. The service shop server 5 sends the created data tothe user terminal apparatus 1. The user terminal apparatus receives thedata and displays the installation appointment confirming screen.

It should be noted that, because the information transferred in theabove descriptions, such as the user's name, address, and credit cardnumber is confidential to any third party, it is encrypted andtransmitted/received for security.

According to the embodiment described so far, the user can receive thefollowing services from the present sales system via the Internet:

-   -   1. The estimate and purchase of an automobile insurance product,        which is an intangible product;    -   2. The estimate and purchase of a car navigating system and/or a        security system, which are tangible products;    -   3. The recommendation of nearest service shops for installing        the purchased navigator on the user's car and the appointment of        installation date; and    -   4. The contract of a wireless terminal device to be installed on        the purchased car navigator.

In the present embodiment, on the basis of the insurance ordering datainputted by the user, the sales side can recommend car navigatingsystems suitable for the user's car. Namely, by use of the informationinputted by the user for the purchase of any one of tangible andintangible products, this sales system can offer the chance for the userto purchase the other product. Consequently, when ordering two differentforms of products, namely intangible products and tangible products, theuser is required to input his personal information and the productselecting information such as car model for example only once. Oncethese items of information have been inputted, the user need not inputthem again for the purchase of the other form of product, which savesthe user a lot of time and labor.

The recommendation of nearest service shops at which the user caninstall the purchased car navigator and/or security system on his car isalso executed by use of the user's home address and car model forexample included in the insurance ordering data inputted beforehand,thereby making it unnecessary for the user to enter the informationagain for the search for nearest service shops.

Further, the contracting a wireless terminal device to be installed onthe purchased car navigator can also be performed by use of the user'spersonal information included in the insurance ordering data inputtedbeforehand. The communication terminal contract screen shown in FIG. 11saves the user of the number of information items to be inputted ascompared with related-art techniques.

As described, the sales system of the present embodiment of theinvention is intended to ask a user who purchases a tangible and anintangible to enter necessary information only once for either of theproducts and use the information thus inputted for the purchase of otherproduct to save the user time and labor. In other words, the salessystem according to the present invention can positively offers variousservices by simplifying the procedure for purchasing them by the reuseof the information inputted once for the initial purchase of two or moretangible and intangible products. Further, the sales system according tothe present invention can add other servers than those described abovefor additional services if they can be offered by the reuse of theinformation once inputted.

In addition, the sales system according to the present invention is alsocharacterized as follows.

For example, when the user receives various services as described above,the user terminal apparatus 1 accesses not only the insurance companyserver 2 but also other servers such as the sales company server 3, themaker server 4, and service shop server 5, the telecommunication carrierserver 6, and the finance company server 7. Namely, the user terminalapparatus 1 accesses the servers of different business forms andinstitutions. However, as seen from the descriptions made so far, theseservers are cooperatively integrated into one sales system to bedisplayed on the browser screens shown in FIGS. 4 through 13.Consequently, the user operating the user terminal apparatus 1 canprocess the ordering of the purchase of a combination of tangible andintangible products, the payment settlement for the purchase, theappointment of the date of car navigator installment, the contracting awireless terminal device to be installed on the car navigator, and otherservices by only a single operational flow without being aware of theaccess to the different servers.

The above-mentioned operational procedures and the operations whichtakes place in the sales system associated with the present invention inresponse to these operational procedures are for an illustrative purposeonly. Actually, system operations which flexibly corresponds to theoperations performed by the user take place. For example, the networksite which the user accesses first is not limited to the insuranceserver 2. The user may first access the sales company server 3 to checkthe stock and delivery status of a desired car navigator, access theservice shop server 5 to check to see if the user can have his carnavigator installed on a desired day, and then access the insuranceserver 2 for finally ordering automobile insurance.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the presentinvention is not limited to the abovementioned embodiment. Thecombination sales of tangible and intangible products is not limited tothe abovementioned automobile insurance and car navigator and/orsecurity system. If there is any correlation between tangible andintangible products, the types of combination sales may be determined bythe management side of the sales system. If the combinations oftangibles and intangibles offered for sale change as a result of thedetermination, the services accompanying the combination sales changenecessarily. Therefore, the servers constituting the sales system may bechanged accordingly.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, tangible products are selectivelydetermined after ordering an intangible product. Conversely, tangibleproducts may be selectively determined before ordering an intangibleproduct.

As described and according to the invention, the user may only enterpurchase order information for ordering an intangible product forexample in purchasing a combination of tangible and intangible productsassociated with each other via a network. For example, when the userenters purchase order information for purchasing an intangible product,the associated tangible product candidates are automatically displayedfor the user. To be more specific, for example, when purchasing acombination of tangible and intangible products, the user may onlyaccesses the sales site of intangible products to order a desiredintangible product; the user need not access any site for sellingtangible products and enter the information necessary for purchase.

Consequently, the present invention significantly saves the user timeand labor in purchasing a combination of tangible and intangibleproducts. Also, because the selected product candidates areautomatically displayed by the server side, the user need not be awareof the change of the servers constituting the sales system if any.

Namely, the present invention provides advantages that the purchaseorders for tangibles and intangibles can be handled in a unified manneron the basis of a simplified user operational procedure, or singleinformation provision. Conventionally, the user who wants to purchase acombination of tangible and intangible products must take the trouble offollowing the links to a site selling intangible products and then asite selling tangible products, for example, entering the informationnecessary for the purchase at every site accessed.

In addition, service providing servers may also be added to the salessystem according to the invention for providing the services associatedwith any of tangible and intangible products for combination purchaseoffers. These service providing servers also realize their serviceprovision by communicating with user terminals on the basis of thepurchase order information inputted in these user terminals.Consequently, the user may input the purchase order information onlyonce and therefore need not input the same information for anyadditional purchase activities, receiving the service provision in asimplified operational procedure.

Thus, according to the present invention, the product purchase andaccompanying service provision via a network can be performed with aminimum necessary information input procedure, thereby eliminating theconventional complexity in information input operations to significantlyenhance the user friendliness of network sales systems. Further, thepresent invention allows the servers constituting the sales systemaccording to the invention to share the purchase order informationinputted by the user of each user terminal, thereby facilitating theexpansion of services for the users.

While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed using specific terms, such description is for illustrativepurposes only, and it is to be understood that changes and variationsmay be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the appendedclaims.

1-10. (canceled)
 11. A cooperative sales system in which a plurality ofservers interconnected via a network cooperatively sell a tangibleproduct and an intangible product associated with each other, said salessystem comprising: a user terminal apparatus connected to said networkfor transferring and receiving data about the sale with said pluralityof servers and displaying and inputting said data based on an operationperformed by a user of said user terminal apparatus; an intangibleproduct sales server connected to said network for transferring andreceiving data about the sale of said intangible product with said userterminal apparatus and signing a sales contract with said user aboutsaid intangible product; and a tangible product sales server connectedto said network for transferring data about the sale of said tangibleproduct associated with said intangible product with said user terminalapparatus and signing a sales contract with said user about saidtangible product, wherein said user terminal apparatus includes:terminal communication means for transferring and receiving the datawith said plurality of servers; display means for displaying the datareceived by said terminal communication means; operator means for saiduser to input the data to be transmitted to any one of said plurality ofservers; and terminal control means for controlling said communicationmeans such that said communication means the data with any of saidplurality of servers connected to said network based on the operationperformed by said user through said operator means and controlling saiddisplay means such that the data received from any of said plurality ofservers is displayed on said display means, wherein said intangibleproduct sales server includes: intangible server communication means fortransferring and receiving data with an other device connected to saidnetwork; intangible product data storage means for storing data aboutsaid intangible product; intangible server user information storageintangible product means for storing data about said user supplied fromsaid user terminal apparatus; and intangible server control means forsearching said intangible product data storage means for the intangibleproduct requested by said user based on intangible product purchaserequest conditions received from said user terminal apparatus throughsaid communication means, acquiring from said other device informationabout said tangible product associated with the retrieved intangibleproduct, and transmitting said information about said tangible productto said user terminal apparatus; and wherein said tangible product salesserver includes: tangible server communication means for transferringand receiving data with an other device connected to said network;tangible product data storage means for storing product data about saidtangible product; tangible server user information storage means forstoring tangible product data about said user; and tangible servercontrol means for controlling said tangible server user informationstorage means such that information about said user received from saidintangible product server is stored into said user information storagemeans, controlling said communication means such that said communicationmeans searches said tangible product data storage means for a tangibleproduct associated with the data about the intangible product requestedby said user received from said intangible product sales server, andtransmits data about the retrieved tangible product associated with saidintangible product to said intangible product sales server through saidnetwork.
 12. The cooperative sales system according to claim 11, whereinwhen a purchase order for said tangible product by said user has beenreceived by said tangible server communication means from saidintangible product sales server, said tangible server control meansexecutes a tangible product sales contract process based on the userinformation stored in said tangible server user information storagemeans. 13-14. (canceled)
 15. The cooperative sales system according toclaim 12, wherein said tangible server control means transmits said userinformation to a service providing server connected to said network forinstalling said tangible product on a vehicle of said user.
 16. Thecooperative sales system according to claim 15, wherein said tangibleserver control means selects said service providing server based on saiduser information stored in said tangible server user information storagemeans.
 17. The cooperative sales system according to claim 11, whereinsaid intangible product for sale by said intangible product sales serveris an automobile insurance product.
 18. The cooperative sales systemaccording to claim 17, wherein said tangible product for sale by saidtangible product sales server is at least one of a car navigating systemand a car safety device to be installed on a vehicle covered by saidautomobile insurance product.
 19. A product cooperative purchaseapparatus connected to a network for purchasing both an intangibleproduct and a tangible product from an intangible product sales serverand a tangible product sales server respectively connected to saidnetwork, comprising: communication means for communicating with one ofsaid servers via said network; display means for displaying datasupplied from said intangible product sales server; operator means for auser of said product cooperative purchase apparatus to input a requestfor the desired intangible product, the inputted request beingtransmitted to said intangible product sales server; and control meansfor controlling said communication means such that said communicationmeans is connected to said intangible product sales server via saidnetwork, controlling said display means such that information about saidintangible product is displayed based on data for purchasing saidintangible product received from said intangible product sales serverand displayed on said display means, and controlling said communicationmeans such that said communication means transmits information forpurchasing said intangible product inputted from said operator means tosaid intangible product sales server.
 20. The product cooperativepurchase apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said intangibleproduct is an automobile insurance product and said tangible product isat least one of a car navigating system and a car safety device to beinstalled on a vehicle covered by said automobile insurance product. 21.An intangible product sales apparatus connected to a network connectedwith a user terminal apparatus and a tangible product sales server forselling a tangible product and for selling an intangible productassociated with said tangible product, comprising; communication meansfor communicating with an other device connected to said network;product data storage means for storing data about said intangibleproduct; user information storage means for storing information about auser of said user terminal apparatus transmitted via said network; andcontrol means for controlling said user information storage means suchthat said user information based on a request for purchasing saidintangible product and said user information received by saidcommunication means from said user terminal apparatus via said networkis stored into said user information storage means controlling saidcommunication means such that the intangible product desired by saiduser is searched for based on said purchase request, from said productdata storage means, information about the retrieved intangible productand data about the tangible product for sale by said tangible productsales server associated with said intangible product is transmitted tosaid user terminal apparatus via said network.
 22. The intangibleproduct sales apparatus according to claim 21, wherein when purchaserequest information about the tangible product associated with theintangible product desired by said user has been received from an otherdevice via said network, said control means transmits said userinformation from said user information storage means to said tangibleproduct sales server which sells said tangible product.
 23. Theintangible product sales apparatus according to claim 21, wherein saidcontrol means transmits to said user terminal apparatus link informationfor linking to said tangible product sales server that sells anintangible product associated with an intangible product approvalrequested by said user. 24.-25. (canceled)
 26. A tangible product salesapparatus, connected to a network connected with a user terminalapparatus and an intangible product sales server for selling anintangible product, for selling a tangible product associated with saidintangible product, comprising: communication means for communicatingdata with an other device connected to said network; product datastorage means for storing data about said tangible product; userinformation storage means for storing information about a user receivedfrom said other device connected to said network; and control means forcontrolling said user information storage means such that based on thebasis of intangible product information about the intangible productdesired by said user and said user information received from saidintangible product sales product server, said user information beingstored into said user information storage means, controlling saidcommunication means such that said product data storage means issearched for tangible product information associated with saidintangible product, and retrieved product data is transmitted to saidother device connected to said network.
 27. The tangible product salesapparatus according to claim 26, wherein said control means transmitssaid retrieved product data to said user terminal apparatus operated bysaid user to execute a sales process on said tangible product throughsaid user terminal apparatus.
 28. The tangible product sales apparatusaccording to claim 27, wherein when said sales process has been executedon said tangible product, said control means transmits sales informationindicative of sales of said tangible product to said intangible productsales server through said communication means via said network.
 29. Thetangible product sales apparatus according to claim 26, wherein saidintangible product is an automobile insurance product and said tangibleproduct is at least one of a car navigating system and a car safetydevice to be installed on a vehicle covered by said automobile insuranceproduct.